Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III of Sweden (24 January 1746-29 March 1792) was the King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792.

Biography
Gustav was the brother-in-law of Frederick the Great and the son of Adolf Frederick I of Sweden. He overthrew the Riksdag government in 1772 a year after his father's death, and was a bulwark of enlightened despotism. He failed to seize Norway with Russian assistance and also failed to reclaim the Baltic provinces in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788 to 1790. However, he succeeded in granting Catholics and Jews citizenship in his realm, and assisted the Allies in their attempts to restore Louis XVI of France to the throne in the French Revolutionary Wars.

Death
However, he had many political opponents within the Swedish court, and they attempted to kill him at a masquerade ball on 16 March. They noticed who he was due to the shiny Star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim on his cape, and as two men accosted him, Jacob Johan Anckarstrom shot him in the lower back with a pistol. The assassination failed and Anckarstrom was executed for treason while the other perpetrators were spared by Gustav. However, he died of wounds days later, while still functioning as head of state.